


On Angel's Wings

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Series: Holly's Round Ten H/C Bingo Card [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Canonical Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 09:10:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19248151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: Tony has always loved flying. Even before Afghanistan, it was a way to be free from the trappings and constraints of the world. In the sky, no one could get to him that he didn't want to be able to get to him, and that had to count for something. He'd spent his whole life being chased down by someone for something, but in the sky none of that mattered. None of that could touch him. None of that was within reach.In which Tony finds a way to fly.





	On Angel's Wings

Tony doesn't like to talk about Mark XXVIII. She was beautiful, if a bit fanciful. He's not so much embarrassed by her as he is desperate to keep the thoughts she embodied a secret. It's not so much that he doesn't want anyone to know about her as that he isn't sure _who_ he wants to let know about her. Because she was beautiful, yes, but also wild and dangerous and potentially his worst idea ever even though she was everything he'd wished he could have in one of his suits.

Because Mark XXVIII? Mark XXVIII had wings.

Tony has always loved flying. Even before Afghanistan, it was a way to be free from the trappings and constraints of the world. In the sky, no one could get to him that he didn't want to be able to get to him, and that had to count for something. He'd spent his whole life being chased down by someone for something, but in the sky none of that mattered. None of that could touch him. None of that was within reach.

It's why his last line of defense in the Mark I was the repulsors that had sent him flying into the air out of reach of his captors. He'd thought, at the time, that if he wasn't going to make it out alive, he'd at least want to go down -- or up -- flying rather than fighting. It had been his last defiance and his last chance to make his strength known. Even then, if he'd been killed, at least it would have been on his terms, not theirs.

But he'd survived.

He'd survived, and then the only thing he could think about was the chance to fly again. To take to the sky and be the kind of man he'd always wished he could be. The kind of _creature_ he'd always wished he could be. High above the ground, out of reach of anyone. At least there, he couldn't disappoint anyone.

The repulsors were easy enough to manage, flight under his own power like that. Sure, it took time to perfect, but he managed it. He managed it, but even so it felt like it wasn't enough. That there was something more he wanted to do. Something more he wanted to be. Something more.

Oh.

So he'd worked with different materials, different mechanisms, and by the time he got to Mark XXVIII, he'd perfected a stationary wing set. The only problem was that they didn't fold down the way he needed them to. They stayed out and locked in a single position and there was no way that was going to be feasible for flight. Gliding, maybe, but not flight.

So he'd tabled that for the foreseeable future and moved on to other functionalities. But he never stopped thinking about it. It was always there on the edge of his consciousness, tempting him into action.

And then, years later, as the earth disappears behind them on their way to God knows where, Thanos waiting for them at the other end of the vast universe, Tony thinks again about the wings on the Mark XXVIII. They wouldn't be enough to get Peter off the ship, wouldn't be enough to save him either, not without gravity, but there's something to be said for options. At least with wings, he'd have options.

The world falls apart around his ears and as Tony finds a way to cobble together a small piece of his old life, he thinks again about the beauty and power of a functioning pair of wings. It's not what he should be spending his time on, not what the world needs from him right now, but it's all he has space for in his mind. Pepper humors him, bringing food to the workshop and running her fingers through his hair to calm him down when he gets particularly jittery. When the feel of space presses even harder against his lungs. When the earth feels too big and the world too small and there's nothing for it but to bury himself in the work that doesn't really matter anymore.

He finishes the design somewhere around Morgan's second birthday. Three weeks before, if he's being exact. It isn't what he'd planned on doing for her birthday, and it's not like he'd ever take her flying, but it's the thought that counts, he supposes.

The suit gathers dust for two years, waiting for the day that he prays will never come. The day that the world comes to a head and brings the reality of what they've become to the forefront of his attention. He doesn't want to give in, doesn't want to be that person again, but he knows too that he will be that person if he needs to be that person. He will. He just doesn't want to be.

So when Steve comes to his front door with his eyes heavy and focused in that way that he always is, Tony's ready. He isn't ready at all, but he's ready. Here and standing before Steve and ready to meet him head on.

The world that has already ended is coming to an end all over again and he knows there's so much still to do but he straps on his suit again, wings folded against his back in that way that reminds him they're there but aren't exploding dangerously from his shoulders. They're there, they're just not _there_.

So when the Infinity Stones make their way onto the back of his hand. When the gauntlet he'd built for exactly that reason serves its purpose. When the strength finds him and comes over his head like all the world depends on him. When everything falls into place and he can see the way the whole world ebbs and flows and everything starts to make sense again. When everything comes into his mind and he can _see_ the way the world works, that's when the wings sprout from his back. He doesn't see the way everyone looks at him but he _sees_ it, _sees_ it in that ethereal, ephemeral way that changes everything for him, and he tries not to let the world collapse in on his lungs. There's so much going on, so much moving in and around the world above him, and there's no way the world will stop collapsing in on him.

_I am Iron Man_ and there's nothing for it but to follow through and remake the world in his image. If this is what he was meant to do, this is what he will do. This is what there was for him, this is the life Yinsen gave him to live. The world is his and there is nothing for it but to follow through and let the world be.

And when the wings fail and he falls to the ground, he closes his eyes and lets himself break.

* * *

_Steve doesn't quite know what he was thinking when he looked up at Tony. Doesn't know what that looks like to him. All he can see is the wings, wide and radiant and golden at Tony's back. This is who Tony was, this is who Tony is, sacrificing himself for the world and there's no way Steve could ever have been that person or done that. He isn't the greatest man in the world, that's Tony. That's always been Tony._

_And so when Tony's wings stutter and shake at his back, when the armor collapses out of the air, when Tony falls to the ground, Steve wastes no time in abandoning his dance partner to Bucky and darting across the battlefield to be there when Tony falls. He's too slow, has to shield himself against the concussive force of his landing, and it hurts that Tony made it to the ground before Steve could make it to him, but he forces the feeling down and rushes to Tony's side instead._

_The heavens chose Tony to be their savior, but Steve will not let him fall alone. He will stand beside him until the end. For all that the world will not end today, Steve knows his world has ended on angel's wings today, and there is no way he will ever be the same._

_The metal wings of Tony's own making took him and the wings of Steves own desperation will carry him to Tony's side. He may not deserve this chance, may not deserve to be the one at Tony's side, but he will take what he can get in this moment and thank the stars above for the opportunity. In this, Tony's last moment, he will take what he never gave himself in the light of day._

_Pepper soars through the air above him, and Steve forces himself to slow. Even with the wings on Tony's back, there's nothing for Steve to do. He's not the savior._

_He was never meant to be._

_Tony's the savior, and that's the way the world makes sense to him. So that's what the world will do._

_Steve stops short. Let Pepper have the moment. She's the one that deserves it. Steve will take his memories of Tony with wings on his back and bury them in his chest with the memories of Bucky's smiles and Peggy's eyes and Sam's shoulder checks. He is far too grateful that Tony had put his helmet down when he'd faced down Thanos at the end of all things, because here, now, he can at least have this little piece of Tony. Tony high in the sky and radiant in the light shining through the clouds. Tony in all his glory as Steve had never let himself see. That is the memory Steve will carry with him in his chest as his world crumbles around him._

_It's all he deserves._

**Author's Note:**

> Written for H/C Bingo Round 10. Unbetaed. [Come hang with me on tumblr!](http://hollyandvice.tumblr.com/)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] On Angel's Wings](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22455418) by [only_more_love](https://archiveofourown.org/users/only_more_love/pseuds/only_more_love)




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